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The owner of a Yaletown clothing store that has been besieged by weekly protests since November faced another protest Friday night, and even a rock star showed up.

Brooklyn Clothing’s Jason Overbo said he hasn’t sold any fur in his store for more than four months, but members of the Vancouver Animal Defence League have been chanting outside the store at 418 Davie at least once a week since last year. At Friday night's protest Brian May, guitarist with rock band Queen, stopped his vehicle outside and offered verbal support to the protesters.

"Good on you," May told them while sticking his trademark grey shaggy locks out the car window before driving away.

The group is protesting against the store selling clothing with fur from coyotes, foxes and raccoon dogs, and say they will continue to do so until the shop commits to a fur-free policy.

“They know I don’t have any fur,” Overbo said about the protesters. “That’s not to say I won’t in future.

“There is no question in my mind they will continue protesting. You asked me what the issue is: The issue is ‘Keep it legal and keep it respectful.’”

Chants by protests include: “There is no excuse for animal abuse,” “That’s not fashion, that’s animal cruelty,” and “When Canadian wildlife is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.” Chants continue at the site for two hours each time.

Area residents have posted comments on websites such as ThePetition.com saying protesters also scream, “Bloody murderers.” Comments have also noted that the protesters are aggressive and belittle and harass people going into and coming out of the store.

Vancouver Police have said that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows for individuals to protest. So far, no protesters have been arrested or charged as a result of demonstrations held outside Brooklyn Clothing.

Overbo said he thinks society has become so “politically correct” that it has become acceptable to use “terror tactics on an entire neighbourhood” rather than talking to politicians to repeal laws.

“When did it become cool to scream at someone to affect change?” he said.

Overbo said the protesters want him to sign a document giving up his right to sell fur. He said he wouldn’t do that.

However, Megan Griffin, a VADL volunteer, said no one from her group has ever asked for Overbo to sign such a pledge.

Griffin said if Overbo told protesters that he wasn’t going to sell fur any longer but didn’t want to make a big deal about it, the VADL would be fine with that.

“At some point, we have to trust people that they won’t lie,” she said.

“Then we go back and check and if they renege, we start the protest again. We try to make it as easy as possible. If he wanted to give us a verbal agreement, that would be sufficient, for sure.”

In Canada, trapping is legal across the country. The use of killing and restraining traps is regulated under an Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards. According to the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, the agreement prohibits jaw-type leghold traps but allows other traps that can cause an “animal to suffer great stress and pain.” Some killing traps, the CFHS says, don’t cause instant death and allow animals to struggle for up to five minutes. The standards allow another 20 per cent of animals in kill traps to struggle in pain beyond that five-minute limit.

For Griffin and her fellow volunteers with the VADL, leghold traps are an unacceptable way to kill an animal. She said the trap slams shut and breaks the bones in an animal’s leg. In some cases, the animal becomes so desperate, it chews off its own limb. If the animal isn’t killed by the trap, it is clubbed to death once the trapper arrives.

“This is not something that is slightly offensive,” Griffin said. “This is horrid animal cruelty. This is some of the worst animal cruelty.”

Early this year, Griffin’s group claimed success against Grouse Mountain by pressuring the tourist destination to go fur-free. An article on the VADL’s website claims the resort stopped selling fur products after months of a pressure campaign and just before a protest was set to begin Jan. 7.

An official from Grouse Mountain, however, wouldn’t confirm whether VADL’s actions had any effect.

“Any decision we made to not carry or discontinue or not order for the end of the season or upcoming season was completely independently decided by us,” said Jacqueline Blackwell, manager of public relations.

“Late last year, I believe, we sold out of our existing inventory. To my knowledge, we don’t have any fur products for sale right now.”

One company that isn’t reluctant to talk about its coyote fur products is Canada Goose. The company’s fur-lined jackets were among the products being sold earlier this year at Brooklyn Clothing.

Kevin Spreekmeester, Canada Goose’s senior vice-president of global marketing, said his company uses leghold traps but disputed the accuracy of images shown by animal rights activists.

“They tend to be a little bit sensationalist in that they want to gather support,” he said from Toronto.

“They show the old fashioned steel-toothed traps — they look a little bit frightening. In fact, today, those traps have been outlawed for many years in Canada and many parts of the world.”

He said the type of leg hold traps used today are the same ones used to catch and move wild animals from one area to another.

“It doesn’t hurt them at all,” he said.

On its website, Canada Goose has a section explaining that it uses wild coyote fur on its hoods because its uneven lengths of the hair create an ideal windbreak to protect exposed skin.

In contrast, Spreekmeester said, faux fur is a petroleum product and a fashion statement that does nothing to protect the face from the cold.

“As much as we respect the consumer or the retailer’s option to have an opinion and act on it, they should respect our opinion and belief that what we’re doing is ethical and it’s part of our creating a functional piece of outerwear,” he said.

Anti-fur protesters have targeted Canada Goose around the world, he said. So far, he said, they haven’t affected sales.

“The sad part of it is if there is someone who might need the jacket to legitimately protect them from the elements, they just make it harder to find and they scare off retailers who are just training to do an honest business,” he said.

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